Warped Fate
by apocnative
Summary: What if Steven had chosen a different glass from the sea shrine to take with him? A change of events in time causes the Steven Universe world to alter drastically as a new stranger is dropped from a different universe to forever alter the world. From events with the diamond's and the changing of history with gems previously encountered. {A Steven Universe/Warhammer40k AU}
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello anyone reading this, i'm just a dude writing at 3 in the morning and had a great idea to make a Warhammer 40k/Steven Universe thing, I don't know why, they have few and far between similarities and two very different fan bases but i'm some weirdo who loves both with all my heart so I wrote a thing. I have never written before on this site so leave a review if you would be so kind telling me what you think about it, updates will be _real regular_ if I get like any feedback. If you would like to learn any back story on Warhammer 40k which is not really required to understand the story but certainly ups the cool factor the, Warhammer40k wiki is godlike level good and you can just search up info if you want. Small notes, while this is pretty much a Crossover i'm not putting it in the crossover section as its only the one character, I don't know how the rules are done around here but I would rather SU fans read and see this than it be obscured behind a different page. Also the first short portion of the story is more or less a small recap of _Steven and the Stevens_. Happy Reading (: - Disclaimer stuff: _I do not own Steven Universe or Warhammer 40k, the story is a piece of fiction that is not official to either brand, purely fan fantasy._

Chapter 1: An Alternate Path

 _A scene of destruction was all about the mangled Emperor, the bodies of a hundred warriors, human and transhuman alike were strewn about him, the mighty Astartes Marines and his own Adeptus Custodes made up the piles, metal rent and torn, limbs scattered, his own body a ruin of its former self from the wounds inflicted on him by his wayward son, empowered by the foul energies of chaos that were controlling him he was unassailable by physical means. His lightning claw hovered overhead, promising swift death, only the complete destruction of his soul would bring about an end to him. The Emperor still struggled to find his will to do it, powerful and mighty as he is, or at least was after this final act, he was still human, however hard it was for his subjects to believe. At this last moment as he rose to unleash his mind, to rip Horus from the hold of chaos and end it, he saw a change in the weave of fate, a pink rift opened in the warp aboard the ship as he began to strip his son of his power, with it gone he was finally revealed, Horus Lupercal, Primarch of the 16th Legion and former Warmaster of the Imperium looked up at his father in shame and horror at his actions while he was being manipulated by the dark gods of the warp. The Emperor saw his son pure and untouchable as he was meant to be and could not end him, he was not yet lost, he threw his son at the rift. Whatever would be his fate, it would not be death as a pawn of the forces of chaos, it would be as a noble paragon of humanity, valiant and defending its future, guiding it, free and unthreatened. Whatever multiverse he arrived at, he would follow his quest at redemption._

"How about this one here?" inquired a curious Steven as they walked the halls filled with sand and hourglasses. He stood over a round glass with gold edgings .

"What one?" asked Pearl walking to him through several floating ornate glass-works.

"This little one, it's ador-bable" he said with stars in his eyes looking to her for permission to choose it.

"Steven, the legendary Glass of Time won't be nearly so small and insignificant, it would be beautiful and grand, like this one." she said with her hands together and eyes beaming looking up at a large hourglass with much more extravagant gold edges and vine like ropes at its sides. Toward the middle of the shrine Garnet stood looking up at the large centerpiece in the middle of the room, a massive hourglass.

"I think it's this one." she said with some certainty sounding in her voice.

"Woah." Steven said as he saw the centerpiece of the shrine while he walked over with Pearl, looking up at it.

"You mean the biggest one? How are we even supposed to get that back to the warp pad?" she said questioningly.

"I can carry it" the reddish hued gem answered, cracking her light based knuckles in preparation for the lift.

"Wait" said Pearl putting her hands on her Garnets shoulder, "We need to be careful which one we touch, you remember what happened last time we were here." she said frowning.

"What happened" asked Steven.

"Hey guys," sounded the lilac colored gem across the room " I'm making the call, it's this _janky_ looking one here!" said Amethyst proudly holding an hourglass of random shapes.

" _Amethyst!"_ gasped Pearl as the room began to shake violently.

"Uhhhh nope it wasn't." said Amethyst looking down at her faulty choice. The top of the dome overhead shimmered and dematerialized allowing the water above them to cascade down into the shrine.

"Look out." said Garnet as she nabbed an unsuspecting Steven and rolled out of the waters way. "We don't have much time" she said to Pearl crouching next to her.

"Amethyst come on." Pearl yelled to her, without warning Steven bolted from the safety of Garnet's arms. "Where do you think your going." she exclaimed. The boy turned around quickly.

"Amethyst gets to keep hers." he said pointing.

"Darn tootin." shouted the gem as she passed him by with the twisty hourglass in her arms.

"I'm gonna get the one I picked out" he said as he sprinted away to the back of the shrine.

"Steven" they all cried out in unison, the boy ran back to grab his prize, and for whatever twist of fate, here the story diverged, he instead grabbed a closer prize, a red tinged glass of the same size but square and thick. Sprinting back into Garnet's arms, she gave him a pat on the head and they warped just in time to only almost avoid being assaulted by all the creatures of the sea who were now sprawled across the floor of Stevens home.

Water logged, the trio stood and stared at him for his recklessness, which they were always ready to forgive after his trademark smile. The real fault was on Amethyst who was now being scolded by Pearl who instead tuned her out and began making a sandwich.

"I wonder what kind of magical glass you are" Steven said looking deep inside to its slowly shifting sands, it seemed to shimmer at his words but he swiftly pocketed it as another thought burst into his head.

"The Beachapalooza!" he exclaimed with no apparent meaning as he scrambled to find his helmet and bike.

"The beach-a what?" asked Amethyst as she walked about the waterlogged floors.

"Beachapalooza." corrected Garnet.

"Dad promised me he would be in a band with me to perform for the town!" he said happily as he stepped out the door.

"Thats nice Steven." said Pearl absent mindedly, poking and studying the glass Amethyst picked, "Be back in time for dinner".

"Ok, bye." he said as he blew a kiss and flew out the door, upon getting outside he saw it was already much later in the day than the gems said it would be by the time the mission would be over." Aw crud, how am I going to get to dads by in time so we can organize this rockin band?" He said to himself, " If only Lion was around I could get him to warp me a _portal"._ As he thought about how to best find that elusive feline he felt a warm glow in his pocket, pulling out the square glass he felt it humming a low vibration. Realizing his last few words he put two and two together. "Can you get me a super fast interdimensional portal to my dad's little buddy?". The instant the request was put in it exploded with power and shimmering light sucking the boy into its veil.

As he flew through a seemingly endless torrent of windows and doors into different places Steven plummeted into void, looking frantically for anything that looked remotely like his father's car wash he began to panic and reached out to the portals in the bright chasm he was falling through. He neared on that he was going to touch but instead looked inside quickly, he saw a dark form being thrown toward him, and an old man, tired looking and _tall_ , in golden armor and looking him in the eyes, he was injured badly but had a look on his face of almost, relief. Bright colors of pink and purple swirled around him as the very bulky form crashed into him. He looked up at the man whose leg he was now holding on to for dear life, he was wearing a dark metal suit of armor that encased his whole body, the design was nothing like the armors he had seen in Pearl's room and seemed to thick to even be able to move. Content not to tumble forever and horribly confused Steven reached out and touched the nearest portal he could and he and the man were surrounded by light. They materialized on in the air over the beach a few yards away from his house.

Steven saw it in is vision as he tumbled through the air. " _Far"_ he thought, as the wind whipped around his ears, _"We are too far up"_ he was yelling in his mind and then just yelling incoherently in general as the ground rushed toward them. He looked up to see the sharp angled face of the man who had smashed into him as they fell, looking down at him Steven's world shrank under his gaze, his bald head and defined features _burned_ with intensity as he observed him while falling. Suddenly seemingly aware of their situation he quickly took the child in one massive armored hand, more than the size of Stevens torso. And shifted in the air with more grace than he had ever seen from Garnet or Pearl to adjust for the impact feet first, they hit the sand with a booming thud and Steven was lowered onto the ground as the man collapsed to his knees, not from injury as he seemed just fine physically, taking the fall with nonchalant ease.

The man began ripping the armor from his flesh, great chunks of metal were torn with his bare hands and plates were thrown off of him, _"Disgust"_ thought Horus, armor stained with blood, the blood of his _Father_ , he threw it off of himself and finally discarded the large claw on his right hand, nearly the length of a full grown man and _coated_ in blood. He was free of the prison of metal at last, the armor was a sick parody of his former regal garment representing his Legion, the Sons of Horus, twisted by chaos and made evil, he discarded it. He was in a thin, plain grey uniform now, a basic overlay for the suiting of his power armor, naked without its covering but free of its choking insides. He knelt on the beach looking over the foreign body of water, He had betrayed them, all of them, his brothers, his legion, the empire and his father. He was a puppet for the destruction of billions of lives and for what? His Father should have ended him, but instead he spared him to, wherever he was, where was he? He looked down to the child he had collided with most normal humans sat dumbfounded when confronted with the sight of a Primarch on the best of occasions, a son of the Emperor of Mankind, a giant, a figure of unprecedented charisma strength but this one seemed more curious than anything. He looked down to the stocky child with a bright yellow star on his shirt, an emblem of his clan perhaps? He was unsure were he was and more unsure as to why the child was falling through the warp. Looking up to him with bright eyes and confused features.

" Um, hi, my name is uh, Steven." He said standing up, still only reaching the Primarchs elbow as he sat " I don't suppose you travel by inter-dimensional portal often?"

 _Humor_ , thought Horus silently still looking at him, that was an uncommon reaction, he would have been tempted to laugh but the gravity of his previous situation was still fresh on his mind, still he needed information.

"I do in fact to do this often, though usually I know where I am going and am safe inside a ship, tell me child where did you acquire the means to get inside of the warp?" he said after a moment with a small smile, and worded it with enough gentleness to keep the negative emotion from his turmoiled thoughts out of his character.

"Oh, I usually go with the gems and they warp me places or on my lion but I can never find him WHEN I NEED HIM " he shouted into the darkness and looking around for any sign of it, a rather unsubtle signal for help thought, Horus but at least he now knew the child was intelligent, if a little insane, he knew not of these "gems" or what lion he was referring too, probably the rambling of a child who had been driven mad by the foul warp energies of chaos.

"You said usually, not this time though" Horus spoke with a commanding intensity, few could hide information from the intellect of a Primarch " Show me what took you into the warp child." The boy looked down at the sand and drew a small object out of his pocket and raised it to see.

"Its some important gem thing but I uh, I tried to use it to get where I wanted to go faster, I think it might be broken now" he said sadly gesturing to the thin cracks lining the edge, its use must have fractured it thought Horus, the warp was dangerous and powerful, too dangerous for a child. He swiftly and smoothly snatched it from the child's grasp. "This is far too hazardous for you to play with" he said

"Hey" pouted the boy,"that's not really yours to have and the Gems get really mad when humans find their stuff" he said trying to jump up to the Primarchs hand and grab it. That _last part_ caught his attention, he looked down at the boy, whose strange references were starting to make more sense. _Xeno's,_ thought Horus, the very thing he had spent the better part of his life exterminating, alien life threatening humanity's expansion of the stars. As if on queue voices shouted behind him

"Steven!" yelled a large woman of strange garment followed by a smaller one, rake thin and pale, dressed the in the same fashion and the most obvious giveaway and small purple figure of obvious alien origin, they were all fairly human in facial appearance but their heights and skin were clearly not. They all skidded to a halt just before him, the Primarch stood to his feet, his monstrous height even without his armor towered over the tallest one of them by more than a few inches. The boy to his side now realizing his size looked like positively puny next to the man. He stood keeping the boy behind him and leveling his piercing gaze to these "Gems" as they boy had said. He could see why immediately, each had a precious stone embedded somewhere. He left the jewelry and finery to his other more vain brothers like Fulgrim or Sanguinius but he recognized the cuts, a Garnet an Amethyst and a Pearl. Why they had these on them he did not know. They seemed suddenly aware of the object in his hand as they stared back at him in stark confusion and whispered among each other.

"Human" said the tallest dark skinned one " That glass is dangerous and should not be in your possession, please release it, and _Steven_." she said as calmly as she could but Horus saw past her tone, she was unnerved.

"Important questions first, what are you and why are you on this planet." he said not quite willing to heed to this foreign woman's demand.

"We are the Crystal Gems." she said with pride and authority, "We are the guardians of this planet."

"Which planet would that be?" he said twirling the small object in his hand much to the annoyance of the dark skinned gem.

"You not from here or something pal?" said the smallest one with a chuckle.

"No." answered Horus with zero sign of amusement.

The sturdy expression worn by the gems now dropped to a state of shock, "This planet, The planet Earth". Said the thinnest one

 _Nonsense_ , thought Horus, though earth was an old term for it, for the wider imperium called it Terra, humanity's home planet, they could not have been on it. Horus WAS just on it and it looked nothing like this, no war, no sprawling cities that stretched continents. Any masque of calm Horus wore was gone, the anger of a primarch was a thing known to shake worlds and this situation was no exclusion, the gems in his malevolent gaze all felt the change in atmosphere as he spoke.

" _You lie_ " he spat "I just was on earth, this is not it, and no earth I had come from had _xeno's_ guardians. Who are you and why are you in possession of this device, why does a child have it?" he said with a venom that threatened violence. The gems had clearly had enough.

"Stay back you two." said Garnet to her companions as she strode toward him, "This does not have to resort to violence, you seem confused and we can help, just give me the hourglass."

"Move away child." he said to the boy

"Go Steven." Garnet said coolly, He ran to the two gems behind her and stood next to them, Horus was beyond reasoning at this point, he knew only anger, they planned to trick him, agents of chaos sent to reclaim him and chain him to their bidding again, she moved first.

Lightning fast movement raced to his arm as she sought to snatch the object, did she think him just a weakling not even worth confronting? He imagined on this lone planet she had only normal humans to contend with, he would use this to is advantage, with an equally lightning fast reaction he grabbed her wrist and twisted upward using her momentum he yanked her savagely to the side and picked her up over his shoulder and threw her, hard. A Primarch was human in the barest sense of the word, faster than most can comprehend and powerful beyond reason they were the greatest warriors known to have ever existed, even without his powered armor, which enhanced his power many times more at the cost of precious little speed, this was child's play, she tumbled across the sand and abruptly slammed into the rock face behind her companions as they gasped, Garnet herself was confused beyond belief, when she looked into the possibilities she saw this man's outcomes were a shrouded darkness and chose to face him if only to get Steven out of harm's way but no human had ever been the equal of a gem in speed and reflex, much less superior, she was enraged, if it was a fight he wanted it's a fight he would get, she summoned her gauntlets.

Charging back to him and blinding speed they began to trade blows assessing strength, she unleashed a crushing barrage of blows to the humans side which he blocked with blinding speed on his forearms, any normal man would have his ribs crushed in several places right about now but he seemed pleased with her assault, a smile crept onto his face, Garnet realized her error, she was wide open, he struck with speed Garnet had never seen, several hits rocked her torso before a crushing blow to the side threw her off balance and she stumbled back. Seizing this opportunity he unleashed a low sweep to the legs of such martial prowess that even Garnet, a warrior of thousands of years of battle was unprepared to combat, fully suspended in the air she crashed to the ground, he loomed over her and picked her up by the throat, gems needed no air but she felt him squeeze hard enough to pop the head clean off of a mortal man.

"Why would you be a guardian of the _earth_ you say this is, why would an alien be defending humanity's cradle world, who are you really?" he asked her refusing to believe that he had somehow been thrown out of his timeline, his reality even, the more he looked the more evidence he saw to his fears, the moon in the sky, the stars in the same places, the human boy, he was grasping at nothing at this point, only his own rage. She used this moment of confusion wisely and thrust her powerful legs to kick him away and free herself from his grip. She landed a safe distance and resumed a very staggered and wounded fighting stance. He looked around him, the evidence was there as he made out each star visible from earth's orbit, he saw a human settlement in the distance, lights and homes, He recognized some of the signs from old pictures of earth's most ancient history, he was in old Merica as they knew it in the imperium, one of many states and countries existed during earth's developmental period before the terran crusade launched by the Emperor. He looked to the child, in the distance with fear in his eyes, he was frightened, from the way the thin gem had hugged him previously when he ran to her they obviously had some amount of caring for the boy. He was meant to guide and protect humanity, to lead it, he had betrayed everything humanity had worked for and doomed the empire, he did not want to repeat this, a cycle of anger, hate and mistrust in his father, wars that claimed lives by the billions, he was ready to listen to these xeno's, if there were truly humans here, he wanted to protect them not, to save them from the powers that had took his mind. He lowered his fists, and looked to the gem in front of him.

"I require an explanation as to how I was brought here." He said, palms extended outward, calmly and slowly lowering, as to de-escalate the situation he had created. "If this is truly Earth, and you are truly its guardians, then we serve the same purpose." She nodded after a moment and dissipated her gauntlets into a shimmering light.

"I knew you would see reason" said a calm voice behind him, he turned to see a very giant woman, with a very large boulder, poised over his head.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hello everyone! I am pleasantly surprised over here that people actually read my midnight creation! To those who reviewed my work, who at the time of me writing this were _Leman42x_ _, The __Prophet of Courage _ and _Chad0619_ _,_ you guys have my deepest thanks for telling me what you thought about it. Now last time I had some confusion on what section to put the thing and as you can see it is now where it belongs in the crossover section since I decided it wouldn't be right to not give love to the Warhammer fans too, even though I had no idea really how it would be received. Now that I am dedicated to attempting to create this thing let's get on to the next chapter shall we?, P.S This might be a bit of a boring one as it's mostly rambling and explaining of the situations. I plan on having future chapters contain far more drama and action. Happy Reading (;

Chapter 2: Explanation of Madness

Steven watched Garnet clash with the man in front of them. At first when he had ran over to Pearl and Amethyst, he was more worried for the stranger who had just fallen into the beach because of him using gem stuff (which he had been warned many more than once by Pearl not to use, under any circumstance, despite them seemingly giving him access to it _all_ the time) to get to his destination faster. When he first saw him falling, his face was intense and stern, assessing everything around him, but after he saw where he was, it faded into sadness. Deep and pitiful sadness like a puppy who just came home and everyone he knew was gone. Only briefly did he show it before covering it with a masque that Steven being the surprisingly emotionally receptive little boy he is, saw right through. Still he wasn't any less surprised when Garnet, whom he had never known to be phased by anything, much less beaten in any kind of physical challenge, _thrown_ like a ragdoll by the giant man. That being _exactly_ what he was, Steven had never seen anyone like this guy, he stood taller than Garnet and was positively _corded_ with lean muscle. It was as if his strength had been hidden under the veil of his charming presence before, but now everyone present saw his might in full show as he revealed it. Pearl just gasped and sputtered like a looney while Amethyst let go with a string of excited curse words that he was _certain_ Pearl would have had her poofed for using in front of him had she not been thinking the same thing.

Any worry he had for the man was gone as he just threw the rock of their team to the ground and stood there, positively tempting her to try him again. When she did get up he didn't think he would ever see a meaner grimace on her face in his lifetime, this was clearly a challenge she had not been expecting. She bursted forward toward him and with seemingly supernatural quickness he took every hit she gave in stride. The only thing Steven saw next was a _blur_ of motion and Garnet hit the floor once again. This time with the man hovering over her with a dangerous aura about him. He hoisted her up and Amethyst and Pearl sprang into action, a flash of light and and shimmer of the air, then Opal was rushing behind him. He saw one of her arms pick up an unnecessarily large rock and begin smoothly walking on her tiptoes, like he had always seen her do, behind him. It was clear what her intent was going to be and even though this wasn't exactly a friendly boxing match going on here, he still didn't want her to brain the guy. He looked on with frightened anticipation. This man wasn't bad. Steven could see it, from his pained looks and his way of speaking he could see the empathy he held and was thankful when he finally showed it, his anger had at last wavered. He loosened his grip allowing Garnet to kick herself away, he looked disorientated more than anything, looking around himself in shock. Opal stopped short of him, lowering the boulder. Steven walked toward them.

Horus looked up at the rock with questionable wonder, he had been hit by heavier things but usually in armor consisting of several tons of ceramite. It would have put him to sleep for quite a while, but not quite enough to put him down for good. What was more concerning was the absurdly large woman holding it, coming from someone who had only ever known one man taller than he, it was not an easy feeling to look up at her, especially one with a gaze so piercing. She was tall and a chalky white in appearance, with eyes that appraised him with amusement and deadly assurance of his doom should he try anything at the same time. He was ever so slightly outclassed here, thankful that he had already resigned himself to attempt negotiations once again. The boy approached them from the side, much less pleased than he had appeared moments ago by the sudden intrusion of violence. He had a very odd presence around him, like his emotion and presence carried the weight of someone far larger than he. His anger at the state of things made him appear _just_ as much an imposing factor in this situation than the three _actual_ giants beside him. He would have to amend this.

" I apologize" he said to the dark skinned woman. "You were correct in trying to resolve this without violence, it was I who am at fault here." he said looking into her dark shaded glasses.

"Its…...understandable" she said finally, crossing her arms and regaining her posture, clearly not pleased but willing to accept his condolences. Horus heard a popping noise to his side and a bright glow emanating from it. He looked to see the large woman gone, replaced with the two smaller figures from earlier. He was at a loss for how to rationalize that one so he just pushed it to the back of his mind for later reference.

"So is someone gonna spit out what the heck this guy is here for?" said the purple one with not contained annoyance

"That's where come in here I suppose" Steven said walking toward the group with a shy expression now that he had to explain this mess."I accidentally turned on the hourglass we found in the sea shrine and it took me into some weird warp place, I tried to get out but when I did he was in there too and we fell back here" he said with his eyes averted to the sand. Pearl put her hand over her face and Amethyst just fell down onto the beach, exasperated at the day.

"That explains how he got here but not where he is from, who are you and how did you end up in the hourglass warp" said the tall one, obviously still curious as to his origins. Horus looked to her and wondered how to even tell his story. Not all information could be shared, absolutely not, his betrayal and his current mental status stays with him until he can further assess what his options are. He had to think now though, what was he still.

'My name is Horus Lupercal, Primarch of the 16th Legion and the Imperium" he said with as little introspective or emphasis on his words as he could. "I was engaged in a battle before a rift opened near me. The situation ended with me falling through." He explained carefully still wondering if he was giving away too much. They all simply stared at him.

"What?" asked the purple one loudly with no sign that she was not following.

"You say this is earth, _I was on earth_ , this is not where I was." he said to them, not yet done with is need for clarification.

"How do you know?" asked Steven, one of many trying to make sense of him, he looked down, unsure of how to respond to him.

"Because it's not on fire." he stated as plainly as one could state the weather.

Every last human or gem was at a loss for words at that moment. Horus could scarcely _not_ let the guilt show through on his regal face. The reason an entire world burned was standing in front of them. Despite this he looked to them with hope still in his eyes, things were still salvageable. He raised the glass he still had, its cracks worsening since last he looked at it.

"This took me from _my_ reality" he said trying to make it sound as believable as he could. "I don't know about yours but if i'm stuck here. I still have a purpose to serve, I am not a threat to you or this world so long as the interest of humanity remains here. It's what I was made to defend, and since you are apparently tied to that objective, it would seem we are not enemies." They all stood around him with a different looks, Steven with stars and wonderment at his strange introduction, the dark one unreadable but looking intensely into something and the rest looking confused to her for guidance. She turned to them

"This was, not an event that anyone could have predicted. Steven, we'll talk about your punishment later, for now it seems we are responsible, in part, for you being here." she said "If you can promise to not harm or disturb any of the people here or in the town. We will help figure what happened and you can tell us more about _you._ " she emphasised with a dark glare. Horus saw little option if he wanted answers.

"I agree to your terms, I am not a threat to any human here or you." he said holding up the glass to offer her. She took it, observing its damage.

"Thank you." she said, "I am Garnet, these two are Amethyst and Pearl, we are the Crystal Gems, if you're ready, follow us." she said, motioning to the home in the distance, sitting below a truly massive temple above of a many armed woman. He was led up the beach to the house where he was instructed to wait outside until they discussed matters inside. He waited on the steps looking out at the town in the distance, unaware of the lethal predator behind him.

As they entered the home Garnet closed the door and walked to the center of the room, and promptly collapsed onto the couch. All her grim seriousness and attempt at appearing the stalwart leader of the crystal gems was running dry. Now she just let her tiredness show as she contemplated the possibilities of this stranger's arrival. Pearl paced the room and Amethyst began angrily eating food from the fridge. "The hourglass should only be able to move time in our dimension, any kind of theoretical outliers should not be affected by it, yet this time it managed to drag someone from who knows where into our world." Pearl said to the room after listing a long series of equations on a chalkboard.

"It doesn't matter how it happened now Pearl, what matters is who he is and if we can put him back where he came from." said Garnet from the sofa.

"The glass is cracked beyond repair, the sea shrine could take over a century to reform, he is stuck here for now." she said in a low voice.

"I don't know about you but he seems too dangerous to keep around here, we had to _fuse_ to stop him from punching Garnet's lights out and now he wants to help but he doesn't even know what he is helping. What if he decides he doesn't like us anymore again and we aren't ready to fight him. Beach city won't stand a chance without us." said Amethyst, who had finally put down the jar of mayo she was devouring whole. Steven knew things were bad when even Amethyst was talking in a serious manner. If he was going to help at all he would have to contribute too.

"Look guys, I'm just as confused as you are as to where he came from. I didn't even try to ask when I met him but we talked before you got there, and he isn't a bad person, I could see it. He was really sad and confused when he got here. Like he had just gotten ripped away from his home and I guess in a way, he did. He saved me from falling to my death when we came out of the portal and he was willing to apologize after you fought. He is even willing to help even though he knows just as little about us as we do him. We do need to hear him out at least." Steven said with a pleading voice. He was always the one they looked too last on matters like these, being the most human out of all of them, figuratively and literally. They all looked to him and then to Garnet.

"We need to help him get his bearings here. We certainly can't have him as an enemy, but we can't trust him outright. Let's hear where he came from first, let's bring him in." she said to Steven with a smile, she was hopeful after his speech to them. In truth any vision she had of his future was murky and clouded. But she was willing to trust anyone Steven did. They walked out to get him.

Horus could not remember hearing of any pink lions. Granted he had never seen a lion because they had died out far before he was created, he was certain nothing in nature accounted for a giant predator to be pink. It approached him slowly with nary a feature showing its meaning, no snarl or hiss but still it slowly walked to him. He was certain he could combat the animal but he knew the boy had mentioned it before and decided against scaring it away. He crouched low enough to extend a hand in greeting to the majestic beast. Its took a careful sniff and sat in front of him, Horus stood, pleased it had at least not attempted to kill him and it began to run itself between his legs like a housecat. Amused by this he laughed, as all cats he had seen could fit into his palm, this one was more or less the size a housecat would be to him if he was a normal man. He went to pet it on the ears and it purred, content with him. He heard the stairs creak and looked up to see four individuals staring at him in shock.

"See!" shouted Steven, "I told you he was good! Even Lion likes him and he doesn't even like Pearl!" he said with a laugh.

"He does too!" she replied sharply with a peculiar blue blush on her alien cheeks. He saw Garnet smiling.

"We are would like to talk to you inside." she said remarkedly changed from the previous grim look on her face. He followed them inside the home, It looked like a very comfy house, much different to the grand and massive rooms he had been accustomed too as one of the leaders of all of humanity but still cozy. The one glaring oddity being the giant blue crystal pad sitting in the end of the house and the large stone door behind it. He had to duck to fit through the door frames but he was gestured to sit, not wanting to break any furniture he took a seat on the floor in front of the couch table. The others took their seats with the boy resting on top of the very fuzzy head of Garnet, looking intently at him waiting for his story to be told. The pink lion strolled in also curious as to what was going on and sat near them

"Now, since we are obviously not from the same earth, we would like to know where you came from before we let you roam free, who did you serve, and lastly, what exactly are you." she explained to him. Horus thought these questions were reasonable, he would withhold only what would incriminate him and tell all the rest, then he would like to know exactly who these aliens were.

"I have told you my name and my title, to whom I served was the empire of man. It was led by my father, who sought to expand mankind across the universe as it once did long before he took leadership over it." he said calmly to them.

"So humanity built an empire?" Pearl asked, " and took it into space but it failed and your father made a new one?". She inquired suspiciously

"Humanity spread out into space by itself without my father's aid and they did wonderfully for a time" he said with a sense of pride in his voice." They colonized worlds and advanced their technology to a point where humans lived in as close to a utopia as we could get, they spread far and wide but, in the end we fell to the same things we always did." he said with Steven noting the familiar look of guilt and sadness in his eyes. "Eventually they split and shattered, waging a brutal war against each other, machines made to fight our battles rose up and we were forced back further and further into regression. In the end the machines were defeated at great cost, humanity's worlds were scattered and unable to communicate, Earth was an irradiated wasteland and we still fought each other for survival. That's when my father took control. He re-took earth from its violent warbands and began preparing humanity to expand across the stars once again." he said. He told them of the things he built and the ideals he held for humanity, he told them of his creation of his sons and explained the "accident" that caused them to be split apart. Not going into any detail about Chaos since it did not seem relevant here. He explained to them of his legion, mighty and strong, crushing the enemies that stood before mankind and re-uniting the humans left of faraway worlds with the rest of the empire. He told them of his brothers and their conquests. He told the story with as much pride as he could muster knowing the truth of his betrayal. He stopped short before he got to that.

"In the end he said, complications led to a stop in our re-uniting of humanity, an important matter drew our attention elsewhere and it led to me ending up here." he finished. They looked at him with mixed expressions, Steven was completely absorbed at all times in wonderments at hearing of his mighty exploits and his race's future conquests, the others held mixes of bewilderment and shock.

"So this guy, your dad.", prefaced Amethyst "He wasn't a normal dude right, he was like you, right?" she said still confused, Horus smiled and inwardly grimaced. The subject of his father was fresh with conflicting emotions for him. He was the reason for his descent into madness, and also the reason he lived still even after.

"My father was a mystery to everyone, even his sons. He was human, we all knew that full well, but not anything like me or my brothers. We could be considered humans at much later stages of evolution, we were made by my father advancing us to what humanity could eventually become, we were created to be general and leaders. He on the other hand, he was something else entirely." he said flatly.

"Well" said Garnet, "That wraps up the who and where I suppose, we are in no position to not believe you and I don't doubt your claims, however outlandish." she told him, which he agreed with.

"I fully expect it to seem just as outlandish as whatever you are about to tell me, which brings us to the next part of this discussion, who are you?" he asked, finally ready to acquire his answers.

"You will be told shortly." she said, "however now that we have heard you out, it's this ones time for bed." she said taking a very reluctant but clearly tired Steven off of her head.

"But Garnet I want to hear the rest of the…" he stopped to yawn.

"No buts young man, besides it's going to be nothing you haven't heard before." she said to him while taking him up to his bed chambers and putting his already half sleeping form down to rest. She returned to the also tired group, Horus thought they seemed extremely motherly for aliens. He had not yet questioned the presence of the child in this equation but he figured it would be answered eventually.

"Now" she began, "since you deserve to know our part in the equation, we can talk freely. There is still a great deal he doesn't know about us, and we don't want him to know so early." she said referring to the boy upstairs, fast asleep. Horus nodded to her.

"We arrived on the earth more than 5000 years ago, the gems that landed here were commanded by our leaders to colonize the planet for our species. This meant the sure destruction of life on the planet and the end of the humans living on it at the time." she said, measuring his reaction, Horus gave no show of great emotion, but was clearly not pleased with the information.

"Life in gem society was not free, and choice was not something given out to all. After we arrived, a gem named Rose Quartz began a rebel resistance to rid the planet of our homeworlds influence. It was a long and hard fought war for this planet's independance, and we are all that's left of the crystal gems she made and the boy up there is one of the few things we have left of her, one of the things we will defend with everything we have, I might add." she said sternly. Pearl beside her was looking away with a very dark expression on her face. " The war ended a pyrrhic victory with most gems under her banner lost, if helping defend humanity is your goal, you will see what still threatens it soon enough." she said. Horus looked at his new allies, seeing them for what they were now, perception and understanding were among the chief traits that he possessed as a primarch. They were a ragtag militia group splintered after war and still coping with the loss of their leader. He saw they did hold caring for the people of this world and he respected them for that, even after much of what they had was lost they held onto the beliefs their leader held. He stood to his feet.

"I thank you for understanding my situation, and helping explain these new matters to me, I see the caring you hold for this world and I admire it. For the time that I am here I promise you I will not harm it or any you hold dear. If I cannot help the people of my time any longer, then the humans here still seem to need me just as much. One day when they seek to expand beyond this world I will aid them in doing it, but for now I would be content to remain in the shadows, guiding and protecting them, that is what you do here, yes?" he asked them.

"That has been our goal for the past many years." she said with a nod.

"Then I will be happy to assist you for the time being" he said with a finality in his tone. The rest of them stood, he offered a hand to her, she took it and the deal was made.

"I am sure Steven would love another houseguest, but it's up to you where you would like to remain, I only ask that's it's close enough to us to be ready in case you are needed." she said.

"I can provide to my own arrangements, but thank you for the offer" he said warmly. "For now I would like to go and collect myself out there." he said gesturing to the beach. "I will return in the morning."

"Whatever dude, don't get eaten by seagulls" said Amethyst who was _very_ ready to not be in such a serious conversation at last. "I'm going to bed so see you guys later" she said, marching to the temple door, it opened with a purple light and she stepped in.

"Likewise." he said leaving toward the exit, he waved to them and stepped out into the moonlight. As he walked along the beach he found his way to the site where he had landed, his discarded armor still lying torn on the beach and his claw beside it. Powerful as they were and needed they most certainly could be he picked them up and hurled them into the sea, one by one. Things would be different this time around. The mistakes of him and his father were something he would learn from, not repeat. He looked out to the town in the distance and walked toward it. He would see what humanity still held in store for him.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: The story is not dead!

I am _**super sorry**_ for not updating for so long, school and life got in the way for a bit, but I have been reading every review and keeping the nice little things all you great people said in my thoughts to keep me going when I did update it. School is almost ending for me soon and I will be able to get out chapters _much_ quicker over summer vacation. That brings us to a new chapter in the story, yay. I still have a bit of thing thinking and storyboarding to do about where to take this _but all suggestions are welcome,_ currently i'm just following the normal episodes and putting Horus in them to change their events a bit, later there will be more _original_ stuff going on. If you have an idea for something cool you might want, throw it down to me in the reviews or a PM. Happy Reading (:

 _Disclaimer:_ I don't own these characters.

Chapter 3: A Space Man's Homestead

Empty streets and homes shutting down lights for the night were all around Horus as he walked through the streets of the small little ocean side town. He was careful not to stick out too much as he was very obviously _not_ a regular man walking down the street. He saw much of the same of what he was expecting. The humanity here was still fairly un-advanced, at least, comparatively to his time. Combustion engines and electric power were check and many other things he was glad to see here. They had long range communication and data sharing available to them as well as some aerodynamics flying above him.

 _He had things to work with here_ , he thought with a smile. Some worlds he had landed upon during the crusade had humans reduced as far back as the age of gunpowder and steel edged weapons.

In truth it was not beyond his capabilities to just craft some of these things himself, provided the tools and material. Primarchs were made with an innate understanding of the sciences and physical materials about them. Most of his brothers, even though they were meant to be brutal warriors and charismatic leaders, had advanced the worlds they were cast upon at birth, after being stolen from the earth, considerably with their superhuman intellects. Even Fulgrim, vain, self absorbed and not as suited to the task of an engineer as much as any human stuck at the job, managed to improve the energy output of his barren world so much that it was flourishing by the time he and his father had found him.

As he strolled along the deserted wooden board walk he heard commotion in the distance, walking past the shops he came across a washing facility of some sort, there was a _highly_ decorated and colorful van sitting in the lot with a pair of _legs_ under it. Cursing his luck for not getting here fast enough he hoped the human was all right. He ran over to the vehicle.

"Hey, you out there!" a voice shouted from below the van, hearing his stomping steps. "Can you use the lever over there and lift up this off of me? I'm a bit stuck." the voice said.

Glad there wasn't going to be a death his first day, well night, protecting this new humanity he ignored the leverage device and simply lifted the van by its rear. The man slowly crawled out and got up, albeit with many loud cracks and pops from his joints, he was middle aged and bearded with a bald head much like Horus's, though much more tan.

"Uh thanks, he said turning and eying the tall man who was still holding up his beloved van by its bumper. " Can you put that down, gently?" he asked politely. Horus obliged his request, setting it down softly on its wheels."I was working on it earlier and the suspension lowered on me after a while." he explained, relieved.

"How long were you under it?" Horus inquired, wondering how he could let himself be trapped so easily.

"A while actually, mid-day naps are going to be the end of me someday, heh heh." he said, clarifying the situation greatly. "The name's Greg Universe" he said extending a hand. Horus shook it, awkwardly considering his much larger hand, but still.

"I am Horus" he said proudly.

"Oh….very Egyptian." he said, looking the man up and down with a questioning stare. "I'm _sure_ I would have seen _you_ around before, so you must be new in Beach City, or are you just passing through?"

"I am coincidentally seeking residence in the area." he said to his new friendly acquaintance. Horus intended to remain largely unknown to the wider world because uniqueness tends to attract attention among humans. But it would be necessary to learn about the society he was in.

"Oh, the town is a pretty popular tourist spot so homes aren't exactly ready for sale, just condo's, I helped build a house out on the beach for my son a long time ago, that would probably be your best bet if you're the construction type." He said while inspecting the back of his vehicle.

Horus saw an important correlation here.

"You said a house on the beach, correct?" he asked quickly summoning the man's attention.

"Yeah, it took a while but it's pretty solid, nice view, wood flooring…." Horus cut him off

"With a giant statue behind it?" he said inquisitively.

"Yeah." said Greg slowly , now curious. "You walk by that area or something?" he asked.

"The Crystal Gems" he stated bluntly. "You know of them." he said.

"Oh geez." he said wide eyed and worriedly. "I hope they didn't cause you any trouble, they are good people, honestly, they just aren't….people people." he finished.

"No, it was I who caused them a fair bit of trouble, but we resolved that…..for the most part." he said looking back toward the beach. "You are the father of Steven then, yes?" he asked.

"Yep, little shtoo-ball is mine." he said. "He's been with them for a while, they teach him...things, and keep him safe…..sometimes." he said looking unsure of that last part. "His mom was one of them so it's only fair they get time with him too." he said, looking very sullen at the mention of her, much like Pearl from earlier.

Horus inspected him closely. He had suspected the child of being some kind of student or friend of their leader, but not offspring. He was slightly taken aback, the odds of two species being compatible in such a way was mind boggling in of itself.

"This explains, a lot" he said, slightly baffled. He leaned against the van, which shifted from his weight.

"So how exactly did you meet them, they usually aren't too fond of strangers dropping in." Greg said recognizing the confused expression on his face.

"Dropping in is a good expression to use." he said "I would ask your son, if you want the long story, the gems are the reason I ended up here from, a far way away." he said looking up into the night sky. Greg looked too and saw his meaning.

"You mean, not from here at _all_ kind of far don't you?" he asked.

"Observant" he noted. "Yes, that kind." he said solemnly. "They also inadvertently saved my life. But I would prefer if you don't tell them that part. I have agreed to help them as a result of my new situation." Horus said looking down to the man. He was regarding his words with a wise expression,, he reminded Horus of his father's advisor, Malcador. He always had insight into things even the Primarchs did not think to ponder on, he was also dead because of Horus.

He decided he liked this Greg.

"Well a friend of them is a friend of mine I suppose, which is _new_ because they don't have many friends at all. I won't bother you with many questions because Steven will talk my ear off next time I see him anyway. If it's a place to stay you need the car wash has a roof I suppose." he said. "Unless your going to build a whole house tonight." he mused.

"Yes actually." he said matter of factly. "Given the materials I could finish a decent structure in a few days, it would not be the fortress I had hoped to construct as a base, but it will make due." Horus said, imaging multiple designs of architecture in his mind.

"Uh, alright I guess, the gems worked pretty fast too. I remember all I had time to help with before they finished was the painting. I tell you what, you lift this van long enough for me to fix the part that broke, and tomorrow I'll drive you to get the tools I used to build Steven's house out of storage." Greg said to his very capable new friend.

 _This would prove to be a far more productive night than he had realized,_ thought Horus.

"Deal." Horus said, ready to set to work. He removed the deflated lift and picked the van back up by its end, giving Greg enough time to replace a small part under the chassis. He set it down and told Greg he would return at sunrise. He would have to find _proper_ fortress building wood.

Steven hadn't been happy to fall asleep in the middle of the gems meeting with Horus, to be fair though it had been a tough night. He fell out of bed and looked down from his room glad to see the usual morning routine in his house, which was Amethyst eating random objects Pearl threw away while she was cooking breakfast and Garnet reading a newspaper with a cup of coffee she never seemed to actually touch. He walked down his steps to get to the restroom, his appearance going unnoticed by the gems because of the local news station (the one _not_ operated by Ronaldo) blaring on the TV about how the _entire_ Beach City Mayor Dewey Park tree population had been reduced to _zero_ in one night by some kind of massive lumberjacking vandalism spree.

Coming out from the bathroom he was getting ready to set down for breakfast when loud banging came from the screen door.

"Steeeeven!" shouted an excited Greg. "Get out here I got doughnuts." he said.

Doughnuts was all he really had to say Steven decided as he raced to the door, with the gems and Pearl behind him still holding his plate and the hope that he would have an actual _structured_ breakfast fading.

"What's the occasion Gregory?" asked Amethyst as she also reached for the beautiful pink box that promised sugary sweets to all only to be dashed as he raised it into the air.

"Sorry to break it to you but one is the limit, need to save some for our new friend working a little ways from the car wash, I believe guys you met him already." he said to a now pouty Amethyst.

"Oh you're talking about him." she said as she sulked in the corner with her one, single maple bar. Steven munched down happily, "Are you talking about Horus?" he asked loudly upon realizing he was being mentioned, "How did you meet him?"

"He saved me from starving to death while being trapped under my car, but that's a story for another day mister, we need to talk about why you're going through space portals and making friends with _giant people_ from other dimensions." Greg said in as stern and fatherly tone as he could muster with a mouth full of doughnut.

"We are more at fault for that than him Greg" said Garnet from behind Steven. "We will be more careful in the future, you can count on it." she said as she adjusted her glasses with that trademark shine glaring whenever she was serious. Greg accepted this statement of hers.

"Well I suppose it can be forgiven just this once but only because he is so _cool_ , have you seen what he is building on the other side of the hill?" Greg said with stars shining in his pupils.

"Is it a giant death ray from space?" Asked an equally excited Steven, much to the dismay of the Gems at the thought of _Steven_ and any sort of death ray.

"No Steven, it's a house." Greg said plainly " But a really cool one, I came over to ask if you guys wanted to come with me to drop off some doughnuts and check it out." he said.

"He did say he would _provide to his own arrangements."_ noted Garnet. "It would be wise to check up on him, lead the way Greg." she said

"Yay, road trip!." said Steven as he hobbled over to the van with his hands full of doughnuts.

The road trip was more of a three minute ride but Steven enjoyed it all the same. Riding to the other side of the hill directly opposite of Steven's beach house, they exited the van and marveled.

What was _expected_ was a messy stack of lumber and some drawn up plans, what they _saw_ was a veritable _mansion_ made of several species of Oak, Maple and Hickory woods, all native to a certain Park nearby and currently making up a massive, multi storied structure.

Giant sloped arches and straight _expertly_ measured angles and lines made of the exterior of the home, which looked like a huge gazebo leading to an extravagantly hand carved door of strange symbols and markings, a beautiful wolf shaped handle was outfitted onto the door knob. The home rose into looming and stoic walls with picturesque glass windows strategically placed to all angles of venue giving it not only excellent view of its natural surroundings but a modern and sleek appearance. And that was just the outside.

Lounging in a massive wooden throne angled in the grass facing the ocean was Horus himself, the primarch looking _resplendently_ pleased at his progress and now standing up to greet his new visitors. His noble features seemed more handsome than before as the process of building seemed to have taken away some of the stresses of his dramatic entry to earth. He had unbuttoned some of his metallic grey suits fasteners and he seemed to flow in the wind, despite his lack of hair.

Or maybe he was just putting on a show to seem all the more fabulous of a homemaker, they would never know.

"Hello Crystal Gems, and my friend Greg." he said pleasantly as he walked to them.

Steven was pleased to see that he looked a considerable amount less threatening than the night before, even though he was still hilariously taller than nearly everyone present even, Garnet was caught up in his shadow.

"We brought doughnuts." Steven said raising the box as high as he could like he was going to present it directly to Horus's arms, which he could never hope to reach, at least at his current height.

"Doughnuts?" Horus asked as knelt down to sit at Stevens and the Gems level and receive the box. 'Oh, baked treats." he said happily and genuinely looked like he was excited as he took one from the box. "These will do excellently, thank you Steven."

Horus _was_ genuinely excited because he honestly couldn't remember the last time he ate, it was even harder to recall the last time he had the chance to eat something that was made to taste good and not just keep him battle ready. Garnet and Amethyst sat next to Steven as they ate and Pearl excitedly rambled on asking how he had not only accomplished this in one night but managed to utilize near perfect geometric curves with no powered tools.

"I am a very efficient worker" he replied. "Although I know for a fact a few of my brothers could have done a significantly finer job on the inner structure itself."

He was not lying when he said that, Perturabo, the Lord of Iron was a savant at architecture and mathematics, structures unimagined and unrealized in ever shifting non-euclidean shape constantly passed through his mind even in the midst of intense battle. While Vulkan, the Firedrake was the finest artisan ever known to have graced the imperium save the Emperor himself. Together they could build a structure that would stand the test of a _thousand_ years and bring mortals to their knees, _weeping_ in its intense beauty. That is, if they did not kill each other at first sight and then Horus after.

He pushed the thought aside.

"Is this some kind of sundial?" Pearl asked with wonder, pointing to a large circular object covered in pillows and raised slightly above the ground a few feet from the throne he had made.

"No, that's actually-" he was interrupted mid sentence by a powerful sonic roar and flying pillows as a majestic pink feline surfaced and began rolling on his back and purring loudly on the dial.

"A sunbathing area for the Lion." he finished after the cat was done showing off. "He popped in earlier and seemed interested in watching me build so I made him a little stand to lie on." Horus said.

"That's so nice!" said Steven as he ran over to the large predator and petted his fluffy pink ears. "And he most certainly returned the gesture with love and affection right Lion?" Steven asked playfully. The cat snorted.

"Oh, almost forgot." said Greg reaching into his pocket. "I got you a phone to keep in touch with the gems in case you have to organize a mission or something." he said as he handed over a small sleek object in a plastic case. "It has voice recognition and mine and Stevens numbers on it so you just have to hold the button and ask." he said. Horus examined the communication device.

"Thank you Greg." he said as he turned it around and wondered if he could actually use it with his much larger than average digits. "Speaking of missions, I would like to know more about the nature of the work we are going to be doing." he said to Garnet which he had assumed correctly to be the leader of the gems from first sight the night before. She looked at the sky and back to him.

"It would be easier to just show you the threats than explain them, we did have a fairly simple recovery mission planned for today if you would like to come along." she said to him.

"I would very much like too." he said standing up

"We are just gonna bring him like that, right away?" Amethyst asked.

He is more than capable." said Garnet.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have another person watching Steven." stated Pearl as he ran up alongside her.

"You take him along with you?" Horus asked her.

"Only on the ones we are sure he can handle, although we are certainly not letting him hold anymore gem artifacts." she said with a scolding glare to him which he hardly noticed.

"He won't be able to hold this one anyway, we are going after the Shooting Star today." Garnet said confidently .

As the group approached the large cave, the atmosphere did not seem especially tense as one would expect from what had sounded like a serious mission to retrieve a dangerous artifact. Horus noted Steven jumping in excitement as they walked through sub-terrainan underpassess and vast tunnels. The long trek through the tunnel system was dark and cramped especially for Horus and Garnet, but they finally arrived where they needed to be.

"The cave holding the star should be just behind this rock face." said Pearl as she looked around excitedly in the large opening they had arrived. The entire wall of the cave of the massive rock face with a large crystals attached.

"Uh, you _sure_ that's a rock?" Amethyst asked in seemingly perfect sync with the vast mound of crystal like slab detached itself from the wall and faced them. The body of the creature was massive and trunk like while it had two stubby appendages and two rather immobile legs. It was more of a semi mobile rock than anything dangerous. Still it barred their path.

"It's a corrupted gem, form up!" Garnet shouted over the scraping noises it generated as it barreled toward them in the relatively narrow chasm, it had to be pushed back. Garnet and Horus took up the front and braced to stop its charge as Amethyst and Pearl stood in front of Steven, weapons in hand.

Garnet and Horus wasted no time in reacting to its approach, she summoned her gauntlets and leaped up as Horus hurtled at peak velocity to jump and strike its upper half with his legs in an all out attack, a spear-head. He became a blur of grey movement as he suddenly appeared yards ahead of his previous location to leap and strike it with both feet, It reeled from his colossal impact but still standing. Garnet was given enough time to come after Horus and deliver a hammering blow from the air to its opposite side, Her gauntlets crashed into its surface and sent it smashing into the wall it came from. Both sides they had struck were heavily cracked but many more hits of the same strength would be needed to fell the monster.

Horus had a different idea, looking around the chasm he saw what he needed, he ran and brutally ripped a massive stalagmite off the wall nearly the size of himself. Despite his show of brute strength the rocky gem was attempting to stand, Pearl threw her spear, impaling a single hand to the wall, buying them time.

Horus and Garnet both took the massive rock in their arms and ran it to beast, like they had choreographed the action a thousand times, they both expertly shifted on their heels and hurled the sharp rock with all their might into the corrupted gems chest cavity. The resounding boom from the throw echoed in the cavern and the whole wall behind it shook as it struck. The gem poofed, leaving a small blue shape. Which Horus saw Pearl put in a strange bubble and send away.

For a short moment they were all laughing at the victory they had just had but it was cut short as falling debris and rocks rained around them. "Garnet, we need to evacuate Steven, quickly." Pearl said as she was helping Amethyst dig herself from a pile of ice.

"Looks like we had a bit too much fun." Garnet commented to Horus as she walked over to Steven and picked him up. She focused as a red hued bubble formed around the child.

"You can bubble me too?" Steven asked excitedly. Garnet sent him off with a tap on the top and without Horus really understanding what had just occurred, he realized he was going to have to dig himself out of a whole _mountainside_ of ice. He smiled and looked to Garnet.

"Are all of the missions like this?" he asked her.

"Almost." she said as she braced her head.

 _My time here might just be far more fun than I had assumed,_ Horus thought as the ice surrounded him entirely.

Meanwhile Steven popped into a familiar red room with a whole lot more bubbles like the one he was floating in.


End file.
